


Between Worlds (On Hold)

by PumpkinSoldier



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Earths, Alternate Universe, Bad Puns, BirdFlash (bromance), Chalant, Crossover, F/M, Flash Season 3, Flashpoint - Freeform, Multiverse, SnowBarry - Freeform, Spitfire - Freeform, Spoilers, Team Arrow, arrow season 5, episode rewrites, features the Flash from the CW show, implied chalant, puns, season 2 episode 17 of the flash, westallen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 06:38:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6943840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PumpkinSoldier/pseuds/PumpkinSoldier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few months after the disappearance of Kid Flash ;<br/>Dick Grayson and Zatanna Zatara, two former members of the covert team 'Young Justice', have noticed that there's a strange new Speedster running around the city of Bludhaven. When they finally meet, he claims to know Wally West, and promise to take them to him, in exchange for getting home.<br/>------------------------------------------------<br/>Wally West was stuck. Stuck on a new Earth with no Team. No Nightwing, no Artemis, no one. Not technically true though ; a new team, Team Flash. They said they would get him home if he helped to stop Zoom. And he did. He helped stop him. But now, he was stuck. Without Barry Allen in sight. He had to get home. But Central City needs a Flash. So he has to stay. Until the real Flash comes home ; and then, so can he.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In The Blink Of An Eye

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies that it's a short chapter. However I hope you all enjoy nonetheless =) Be sure to let me know what ya'll think!  
> Also, some chapters will alternate between my own original chapters and re-writes of episodes of The Flash and Arrow, and also, some chapters may be entirely made of flashbacks featuring snippets of episodes that I have rewritten to suit the chapter. , I'll clearly state at the beginning of each chapter which earth the chapter is taking place. I hope that makes sense!

**Earth-16**  
**Bludhaven**  
  
It had been almost 6 months since the alien threat known as The Reach had disappeared from the earth. Months since Wally West had died protecting the Earth. Nightwing sat on top of a building, his legs swaying as they dangled over the edge. He watched the streets as they came to life in the early-evening of Blüdhaven. He turned one of his eskrima sticks in his hands as he thought about the recent events. ' _One. The Reach are no longer around. Two. My best friend is dead. Three. I'm no longer part of the Team._ ' He sighed. ' _Mind you I left myself_ ' he continued watching the streets, waiting for something to happen. But nothing did. He missed the Team. He missed Wally. "Was leaving a mistake?" He mumbled to himself and sighed. He continued to look down at the ground, and rose his head as he felt a presence behind him. "Hey Zee."  
  
"Dammit!" A girl's voice said. "How did you know?"  
  
Nightwind turned around. "Because you are not sneaky at all." He took in Zee's appearance; black boots, black jeans, a white top, leather jacket and a brown messenger bag going across her body. "You aren't in uniform?"  
  
"I'm going to have to work on that."  Zatanna went over to the former Robin and sat down beside him. "And no I've got the night off."  
  
Nightwing nodded. "So how have you been?"  
  
"Good I guess." The magician replied. "It's nice having the Team around. Gives me memories of when we used to go on missions together."  
  
"You miss it?"  
  
"Yeah. A lot actually." Zatanna looked down at her swaying feet. "I'm actually considering leaving the League."  
  
"Wait seriously?" Nightwing turned his head to look at her. "Why?"  
  
“It...I don’t know. I don’t get as much from it then I thought I would.” She said, “You know the rush of adrenaline when you’re taking on a bad guy, the feeling you get when a mission went well. The excitement of looking forwards to pizza or M’gann’s cookies and watching movies after.” She paused. “With the League...it’s just...get debriefed on a mission, go on the mission, complete it, come back, status report and do the whole thing over like clockwork.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Well, there’s that and the League are a little hesitant to send me out on any more missions since...you know… I-”  
  
“-Accidently fried Doctor Light’s brain?”  
  
“Yeah.” Zatanna looked down. “That.”  
  
“Do you know what happened?”  
  
Zatanna was hesitant to answer. “I lost control. I got mad.” She clenched her hands into fists. “I just - I can’t believe he would do something like that.”  
  
Nightwing’s voice was soft when he placed a hand on her arm. “It wasn't your fault. You didn't mean for it to happen.”  
  
“But...what if I did? What if I wanted to do that to his brain so he’d never do anything like that again?”  
  
“Then you did it for a good reason. He can’t hurt anyone else.”  
  
“Nightwing I literally destroyed someone’s mind. I was just meant to erase his memories of the Watchtower but I let my emotions cloud my judgement.” She glared into the distance. “Anyway, my fuck-ups are not the reason I'm here.”  
  
“Why are you here?”

Zatanna reached into her back and took out a hastily wrapped parcel. “This was sitting outside my apartment door this morning.” She handed it over to Nightwing who moved the paper aside, revealing a large leather book, strange swirling patterns decorated the front and back. As Nightwing ran his fingers over them, he could feel that they had quite literally been burnt and carved into the leather. A leather strap held the book closed, with no lock.  
  
"...It's a book."  
  
"A _spell_ book." Zatanna corrected. "The only problem is I can't figure out how to open it. and I've tried every spell I could think of."  
  
Nightwing tried to pry the book open but had no such luck. "What if You ask Dr Fate?"  
  
"No way. He won’t even look at me after what I did." She shook her head. "Plus he’ll probably confiscate it."  
  
"What why?"  
  
"This book." She placed her hand on the cover. "It's radiating power, It's strong and powerful. But, it’s also got dark magic,  I can feel it."  
  
"Maybe that's a good thing. You don't want to be messing with dark power."  
  
"I'm not going to be messing with it. I just want to know what's inside." Zatanna insisted. "Besides, I think I'm meant to open this book."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Zatanna reached into her bag again and took out a piece of paper. "This is the letter that came with it."  
  
Nightwing took it from her and started to read it out loud.  
  
" _Zatanna. By the time you read this I'm sure you'll have grown into a fine young magician just like your father. Although I'm almost certain there are still some things your old man won't teach you.You know your mum was pretty skilled in magic too, I don’t know if you know that in all honestly. I was a good friend of hers and she left me these items to one day give to you in case anything were to happen to her or your father. I guess that time is now. Use these well. They're strong and powerful, you’ll know what to do when the time is right. Keep your chin up love, maybe one day we’ll meet. Until then - J.C_ ."  
  
“J.C? Who’s J.C?”  
  
“I don’t know.” Zatanna admitted. “That’s what I was hoping you’d be able to help me out with.”  
  
“Zatara never mentioned anyone that went by J.C?”  
  
“No, not that I can remember.”  
  
“Okay, I’ll run it through the computer and see-” Nightwing’s words were cut off as something on the streets below caught his eye. A soft boom sounded off, a bright circle of blue light, and an impossibly fast red streak. “What the hell was that?!” He handed the book back to her and got to his feet.  
  
“What was what?” Zatanna struggled to put the book back into her bag before she stood up.  
  
“It...How did you not see that?” Nightwing squinted at the streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of the red streak again. “It...it looked like the Flash.”  
  
“But what would Barry be doing in Blüdhaven?”  
  
“That’s the thing. He’s back in Central City with Iris.” Nightwing looked up at her. “It’s not Bart either.”  
  
Zatanna caught on to what he was saying. “You think it’s-”  
  
“I don’t know.” Nightwing said. “We need to try and follow it.”  
  
“You wanna follow something that’s just as fast as the Flash?”  
  
“I want to try.” As the words left his mouth the red streak ran below them again.  
  
“There!”  
  
“No there!” Zatanna pointed in a different direction where the red streak was.  
  
The streak was below them again, it stopped, and then started running up the building towards them. Nightwing and Zatanna fell back onto the roof as the streak zipped up and over them. Nightwing rolled onto his front and looked up at the streak. “What the…”  
The figure, the streak was blurred, moving and vibrating in place like he’d seen Barry and Wally do countless times. They were dressed all in red, even despite the continuous movement Nightwing could still see the white circle with the yellow emblem. One he’d known more a large majority of his life. The logo of the Flash. “Ba- _Flash_?”  
  
The figure seemed unnerved by the comment. They looked at Nightwing, who had now gotten to his feet, and Zatanna who was just beginning to get to hers. The figure ran away, zipping past, Nightwing stumbled a little, and Zatanna’s hair blew into her face.  
  
“You saw him right?” Nightwing turned to her. “You saw-”  
  
“That he was dressed like the Flash.” Zatanna moved her hair from her face. “It-But it wasn't him. There was something off about him.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“I don’t really know how to describe it.” She said. “But do you remember when the League were brainwashed and I told you I got a weird vibe from Bats and Canary?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Well I got a similar kind of feeling.”  
  
“So you think Flash has been brainwashed?”  
  
“No, it’s different.” Zatanna shook her head. “I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s different.”  
  
“Different how?”  
  
“Like...Like he’s not from this world.”

* * *

  
The streak ran into an alley and ducked behind a large bin. The figure reached up and pulled the mask off of his head, revealing a mess of brown hair. He blinked rapidly, his green eyes took in the alien surroundings. He put a hand on his chest, panting slightly. “Well Barry.” He murmured. “We definitely aren't in Kansas any more.” He peered round the alley corner, looking up at the buildings that towered above. Barry drew back, and rested his head against the wall. “I hope I can help you...Wally.”  

 


	2. Say What?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A distressed Artemis calls Zatanna, and they discuss a mysterious figure that she saw, Dick arrives not long after and reveals something of use to Magician.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter takes place a few days after the events of the first chapter, and takes place the same time as chapter three. Chapter three is entirely a flashback that occurs while the three Young Justice members are talking to each other. If you're confused by anything then don't hesitate to ask in the comments, hope that clears everything up!

**Earth 16  
Bludhaven **

Artemis anxiously waited for Zatanna to appear in the cafe she had called her to. One of her favourites in Bludhaven actually, Artemis didn’t get to visit the city that often but when she did, she made sure she went to the Wallflower Cafe. Despite the early in the morning, so the place was fairly busy, loitered with the waiters, early morning regulars, and a new guy that Artemis had never seen before ; a dark brown haired male was sitting in the booth behind her, sitting low in his seat like he was trying to avoid someone. 

“Hey.” Zatanna slid into the booth opposite the blonde. “Is everything okay? You sounded pretty upset on the phone.”  
  
The girl sighed and pulled off the grey beanie she had on, her hair tumbled out, framing her face. “Yes. I mean no. I mean, I’m not too sure exactly.”  
  
“Artemis what are you talking about?”

Artemis picked up the white cup in front of her and took a sip. “How would I know if I was crazy?”

“Well.” Zatanna started. “I hear talking to yourself is the first sign of madness.”  
  
“Zee!” Artemis lightly kicked Zatanna under the table. “I’m being serious.”  
  
“Ow! Okay okay fine.” Zatanna crossed her leg up onto her knee and rubbed her shin, she had that weird vibe again, like the one she got the other night ; the magician brushed it off and continued the conversation.. “What kind of crazy are we talking about?”  
  
Her companion shifted about in herself. “Like, seeing things kind of crazy.”  
  
“Seeing things as in drug induced hallucinations or our kind of seeing things?” Zatanna raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not high if that’s what you’re implying.” Artemis said.

“I wasn’t.” The magician held up her hands. “I was just asking.” she lowered her voice. “What kind of things were you seeing?”  
  
“This is gonna sound insane, but…” Artemis tapped on the rim of her cup. “I - I saw Wally.”  
  
“What?” Zatanna leant forwards. “What do you mean you saw Wally?” The magician could have sworn that she saw the guy sitting behind Artemis tense up slightly, but she ignored it. “Artemis he’s-”

“I know. I just, I saw him. At least, I think.”  
  
“What exactly did you see?”  
  
“Yesterday, I was on my way to come and see you actually, first I headed for your apartment, and then I remembered you said you were going to be in bludhaven for a few days. So I went to use the Zeta-Tube, and then there was this blur right in front of me, it came towards me, and said my name.” Artemis took a deep breath. “Obviously I reacted to it, and...and I thought it was Wally, I said his name and it reacted.”  
  
“Did they say anything else?” The vibe Zatanna was getting began to get stronger. “Did they do anything? What were they wearing? Was it like a copycat Flash costume?”  
The guy behind Artemis moved, his head lifted slightly and leant back, out the window, staring at the ceiling ; nothing unusual, not really anyway Zatanna noted , but why did it feel as though he was listening to their conversation.

Artemis frowned. “How do you know about that?”  
  
Zatanna opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by a new voice. “We saw it too.”  
  
The two girls looked up to see Dick Grayson standing by their table. He had a dark blue hoodie on with a black jacket over the top. Clearly he’d been in a rush as the hoodie was connected to the zip of the jacket, his blackout sunglasses that he usually wore were missing and his hair was stuck up in a mess. A backpack was hastily slung over his shoulder and he was blinking rapidly and was acting jittery, like he had drunk a whole load of coffee before he got to them. “The other day, we saw it when we were out on patrol.” Dick sat down next to Zatanna and took his phone. “That’s not what I came to talk to you about.”  
  
“Wait a second how did you know we were here?” Zatanna asked. “Wait nevermind I don’t think I want to know.”  
  
Dick shrugged. “Hacked your phone.” He was about to say something else but Artemis stopped him.  
  
“No, before you say whatever you have to say, answer me first.” Artemis held up her hand. “What do you mean you saw Wally?”

“Artemis that wasn’t Wally.” Dick shook his head. “He was dressed like the Flash but that wasn’t anyone that we know. Trust me on this.”  
  
“How do you know that?”  
  
“He came through a portal.” Zatanna said. “I was about to tell you that. We saw him, well Dick saw him run out from a portal. They ran up the side of the building and stopped in front of us. We haven’t seen them since.”  
  
“Right…” Artemis sat back against the seat. “What did you want to say?”  
  
“Umm…” Dick glanced at Zatanna, unsure if he should say anything.  
  
Zatanna nodded. “She knows.”  
  
“Okay, so, I stayed up all night looking through some databases-”  
  
“Is that why you look like you haven’t slept for three days?” Artemis interrupted.  
  
“Huh?” Dick glanced down, as if he noticed his appearance for the first time. “Yes. That and I’ve drunk more coffee than I probably should have. Anyway, this guy, J.C, his name is John Constantine.” He placed the phone on the table and wrestled with his zip, trying to detach his hoodie from his jacket.

“Oh my god just stop for a second.” Zatanna batted away Dick’s hands from his clothes. “ _Hcated”_ She whispered and tapped the zip.

Artemis smiled at them. “So when did you two get back together?”  
  
“Huh?” Zatanna shook her hands. “No, no we’re not-”  
  
“We haven’t” Dick stuttered. “We haven’t gotten back together.”

“We’re just friends.” Zatanna said.  
  
“Yeah.” Dick looked at Zatanna. “Just friends…”  
  
Artemis looked skeptical. “Uh-huh…”  
  
“Anyway, we didn’t come here to discuss our relationship. I haven't found out where he is yet, it's like this guy lives off the grid."  
  
"We'll figure that out later. What else was it you wanted to talk about?"   
  
"This.” Dick took out what looked like a small remote from his bag, no bigger than his palm. “Zee, by using what you told me the other night, and borrowing a little tech and info from B-man-"  
  
“Stealing.” Artemis said.  
  
“ _Borrowing_ ” Dick said again. “Without him knowing, I have created two different devices, one that specifically tells me when there are Meta’s around, and the other is to detect speedsters.”  
  
“There’s only one device here.” Artemis said.  
“Dammit!” Dick rifled in his bag. “Ugh, great. I think this is the Meta one.”  
A red light flashed, once, twice, three times. Again, and again. Dick had the device in his hand and had it pointed towards Zatanna. “See it works.”  
  
Zatanna shook her head. “I don’t have the Meta-gene, remember?”  
  
“Must be broken.” Artemis shrugged and finished her cup of coffee.  
  
Dick put down the device and frowned. “I was so sure it worked.” The device frantically flashed the red light again. “Hey look…” Dick looked up, feeling someone standing over at their table ; he met the eyes of a brown haired man, not too much older than him. Dick sucked in a breathe, his face was familiar but he couldn't quite place it.  
  
“Cool toy.” The man said, shifting nervously.  
  
“Thanks…” Dick put it back into his bag. “Help you with something?”  
  
“I know where to find your friend Wally.”

 


	3. Flashback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry relives recent memories, and introduces himself to Wally's teammates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is entirely a flashback, and takes place just a few moments before chapter two, and at the same time as it (you'll see what I mean.)
> 
> The pictures that I have attached are only used for reference to help me write, although Dave Franco and Emeruade Toubia are my headcannon Nightwing and Zatanna =D And potentially Chris Wood for Superboy because I love him as Mon-El.  
> EDIT : I added the pictures to help you visualise them better, instead of imagining what they look like :)

**Earth 1 (Arrowverse)** **  
** **Central City, S.T.A.R Labs  
** **Flashbacks  
** _**  
** Barry Allen jumped through the time portal, landing on the cold, hard floor of S.T.A.R Labs. He looked up at Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon, who were stood behind a computer bench.”It’s here!”  
  
“Did you even go?” Caitlin tilted her head.  
  
“Guys the Time Wraith!” Barry yelled. “You guys figure out how to stop it?!” He asked as he pushed himself back, his back connecting with the computer bench. _

_“Time Wraith. That’s a good name you know..” Cisco picked up a large gun of some sorts and aimed It at the portal. “Time to take out the wraith!” He fired it just as the time wraith passed through. But it didn't seem to work. The wraith continued to advance towards the speedster. “Dang maybe not!”  
  
“I got it!” A new voice yelled.  
  
The time wraith curled into itself, and was forced back into the portal from where it had emerged. The portal shut with a whoosh sound and Barry looked up to see who had helped them. “Hartley?!”  
  
Hartley smiled at Barry as he took off his gloves. “Told you they’d work.” He put down his gloves on the computer bench next to Cisco. “All it took was a low frequency attack with a high intensity just like I said.”  
  
“Yeah yeah. You were right this time Rathaway.”  
  
“I’m right all the time Francisco.” Hartley walked over to Barry and helped him stand up.  
  
“Hartley?” Barry asked again, seemingly in shock.  
  
“Bartholomew.” Hartley leant against the computer desk.  
  
“So.” Cisco said. “Aside from the fact that a Time Wraith came over here and nearly killed us, how did it go?”  
  
“It was interesting.” Barry replied.  
_

_“ Good interesting or bad interesting?” Caitlin asked. “ 'Cause that could go either way.”  
_

_“ So far so... good.” Barry said.  
  
“N **On facile de terra ad sidera via.** ” Hartley drawled out, a smug expression on his face. _

_“ How many times do we have to tell you, Hartley?” Caitlin said, smiling. “Ever since Evil Wells got erased from existence, no one speaks Latin around here anymore.”_

_“Well,” Hartley pushed himself off of the desk. “As always, it's always a pleasure working with you all with this little project. If you need anything in the future, call me. I'm off to a late dinner.”  
  
“Anyone special?” Caitlin asked.  
  
Hartley stopped in the doorway. “Yeah. My parents.” He started to leave and called over his shoulder. “Goodbye Team Flash!”  
  
Barry was staring in bewilderment at Hartley’s retreating figure. “So...Pied Piper’s on our side now?”  
  
Cisco chuckled. “Yeah, I guess when you went back in time and stopped him from breaking out, it reformed him.”  
  
“That’s-a-good to know.” Barry pulled off his mask and stumbled, almost falling over.  
  
“Barry!” Caitlin was by his side in a second and caught him, her face filled with concern.  
  
Barry blinked at her. “I’m fine Cait.”  
  
“No you’re not. You’re exhausted, look at you.” Cisco interjected. “You look worse than a-”  
  
“Not helping Cisco.” Barry hissed. “I told you guys I’m fine.”  
  
“Clearly you’re not.” Caitlin  pulled Barry over to one of the computer seats and pushed him down into it. She took his chin in her hand and gently turned his head from side to side. “You’re tired. You need sleep.”  
  
“So why are you checking my face?”  
  
“To make sure you haven’t got any injuries that I can help with.” Caitlin sighed, and kissed the top of his forehead. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”  
  
A loud beeping noise cut off any further conversation. Caitlin looked up at the monitors. “What is it?”  
  
Cisco sat into one of the computer seats and started tapping away. “A breach. There’s another breach!”  
  
“What?” Barry jumped to his feet. “How?”  
  
“I-I don’t know.” Cisco shook his head. “That’s not all. I’m picking up...another speedster?”  
  
“That’s impossible, right?” Caitlin looked from Cisco to Barry for some explanation.  
  
“No it isn’t.” Harrison Wells said. Well, Harrison Wells from Earth 2 anyway. “Zoom is a speedster who is able to open up breaches from his world to ours. It’s likely that this is another speedster that is able to do the same.”  
  
“So another Zoom?” Caitlin asked.  
  
“Quite possibly.” Harrison or otherwise known as Harry, adjusted his glasses. “We won’t be able to tell until we come face to face with it.”  
  
“That’s reassuring.” Barry mumbled and pried Caitlin’s hands away from his face.  
  
"Where do you think you're going?!" She demanded.  
  
"I'm going to go see what they want." Barry stood up. "I gotta go see if they're dangerous or not."  
  
"Guys-" Cisco tried to say but was interrupted by Harry.  
  
"Allen." Harry crossed his arms and stared Barry down. "You can barely stand. I would advise against that."  
  
"Guys the-"  
  
"I have to go see if they're dangerous or not." Barry frowned and tried to argue his point across, ignoring what Cisco was trying to say. Caitlin went over to see what Cisco was trying to say to everyone and her eyes widened.  
  
"Barry-"  
  
"Allen unless you want to collapse out in the field I suggest-"  
  
"HEY!" Cisco shouted, gaining the attention of the two men.  
  
Barry's frown deepened, and he glared over at Cisco. "What?"  
  
"It's moving!"  
  
"Moving? What do you mean moving?!" Barry zipped over to Cisco and peered at the computer screen.  
  
"Look." Cisco pointed at the new found speedster on the monitor and followed the movements of it with his finger. "It's heading towards us!"  
  
Harry's hand went to his jacket pocket and he took out a gun, aiming it at the door. "Get ready." _

_  
"Ready for what?!" Cisco picked up the frequency gun and aimed it at the door like Harry.  
  
"A fight." Harry said, his eyes locked forwards. "Potentially."  
  
Caitlin pulled off one of her heels and held it ready to throw. "Where-" She began, a loud wailing noise started up. "Since when do we have alarms?"  
  
"Courtesy of me." Harry said. "I installed them."  
  
Barry stood ready to rush at the new speedster, he hoped that they wouldn't be too much of a challenge, he was exhausted. "They're here."  
  
The speedster rushed past them, sending papers flying about it all directions. It circled round them once, before it stopped in the doorway. The others could see the figure more clearly now, dressed similarly to Barry, only in bright red and yellow. Red bottoms, red gloves. Yellow boots, a yellow top. For the emblem, it was a single red lightning bolt surrounded by a circle of white. The mask was similar to Barry's, only cut off at the bottom with red lightning bolts on the ears. Bright orange hair poked out from over the top of the mask, clashing slightly with the yellow. The speedster had one arm wrapped around their stomach, holding their side, and the other was holding onto the doorframe.    
  
"Why isn't he doing anything?" Caitlin whispered, her shoe still poised to throw.  
  
"I think he's hurt..." Cisco replied, shifting the frequency gun in his arms.  
  
The speedster looked up, his gaze locked onto Barry. "Help." He said, he took a step forwards, and fell onto the floor. _  
  
**_Flashback_**  
_  
Wally groaned in pain, he felt someone watching him, but he didn’t open his eyes to look. “Artemis, I had the weirdest dream…”  
  
“Whose Artemis?” A voice said.  
  
“You are aren’t you?” Wally’s head felt fuzzy, he slowly opened his eyes, and saw an unfamiliar woman looking down at him. “Wait a minute, where am I? Who are you?”  
  
The woman blinked her brown eyes at him. “You’re in the holding cell in S.T.A.R Labs.”  
  
“STAR Labs has a holding cell?” Wally got to his feet and pressed his hands against the glass. “I’m guessing this also cuts of my power?”  
  
The woman nodded. “My name is Caitlin Snow, I-”  
  
“Caitlin Snow?” Wally narrowed his eyes. “But you’re-wait, am I in Central City?”  
  
“Yes.” Caitlin said. “You really don’t know where you are do you?”  
  
“No, I mean yes I do, I know this is S.T.A.R Labs, but it’s different to **my** STAR Labs.” Wally’s eyes widened. “Did I travel back in time? Or forwards? What year is it.”  
  
“It’s 2016…” Caitlin seemed hesitant to respond. “What’s your name?”  
  
Wally glanced down at the emblem on his chest. “I’m Kid Flash.”  
  
“What’s your real name?”  
  
Wally smiled. “Look Miss Snow, you seem like a nice person, but I’m not about to tell my identity to a complete stranger.”  
  
“Considering how you don’t have your mask anymore I don’t think that’s a problem.”  
  
Wally reached up to his face and felt the absence of his cowl. “Dammit. Well, I guess I could tell you.” He put his hand back on the glass. “But I want to talk to the Flash. This is Central City right? So you gotta have the Flash.” _

_“Name first.” Caitlin glanced behind her. “Then he’ll talk to you.”  
  
“Fine.” Wally signed. “My name is Wally West.”  
  
A red streak whooshed into the room. “You’re lying.”  
  
“You...don’t look like the Flash.” Wally frowned. “Who the hell are you?”  
  
“I am the Flash.”  
  
Wally raised an eyebrow. “As in Barry Allen, Flash?”  
  
The Flash pulled off his cowl. “How do you know my name?”  
  
“Why do you have brown hair?” Wally began to panic. “You aren’t the Flash!”  
  
“Yes I am!” Barry insisted. “I’ll answer whatever question you want me to, but you have to co-operate with us. Who are you?” _

_“I told you, I’m Wally West!”  
  
“That’s not good enough!” Barry hissed. “Who are you?”  
  
Frustrated, Wally hit the glass. “You want my backstory, then fine.” He sighed. “My name, is Wally West, I was born on November 11th, 1994 to Rudy and Mary West. Growing up, the Flash, he was my idol, I was his biggest fan, So when I discovered that my Uncle Barry was the Flash, I begged him to let me be his sidekick. Barry refused, but I didn’t let that stop me. I replicated the experiment that gave Barry his powers in my lab that was in my family’s garage. It, didn’t work too well and I ended up blowing up the garage and landed myself in the hospital.”  
  
“How did you recreate the experiment?”  
  
“Uncle B had notes on what happened to him that day, I took them and recreated it exactly as it said. Sort of any way. My powers activated after I came out of the hospital and Barry agreed to let me become his partner, Kid Flash. I took that on in 2008.”  
  
“You were fourteen?” Barry’s mouth was open in surprise. “That’s a little young isn’t it?”  
  
Wally smirked. “You think that’s young? My friend Robin, he goes by Nightwing now, he became a superhero when he was nine.”  
  
_

_“N-nine years old?!” Barry spluttered. “His parents allowed that?!”_

 

_“His guardian.” Wally corrected. “Nightwing became a hero because his parents were killed. Batman took him in and trained him to be one of the best heroes I've ever known.”_

 

_“Batman?”  
  
“Yeah, lives in Gotham City? Runs around in a bat costume fighting clowns, a penguin and a whole bunch of other crazy ass villains?” Wally stared at the blank looks on Caitlin and Barry’s faces. “Nevermind then.” _

 

_“What happened after that?”  
  
“In 2010, I joined a covert team for the Justice League, we called ourselves Young Justice. We were made up of different partners and sidekicks from the Justice League members. Granted, the covert missions never exactly went to plan, but you get the idea. A couple years later, I...left the team along with my girlfriend Artemis. We moved to Palo Alto, adopted a pit bull, and attended Stanford University together. It was all perfect, until we had agreed to take part in a deep cover mission that resulted in Artemis faking her death, all to get rid of this alien threat known as the Reach. I made it pretty clear that I didn’t want her or myself returning to the hero life. I ended up arguing with most of the Team, and calling them out on everything that happened. When it was time to end the mission, I came out of retirement and planned to go back after the Reach invasion was over. But, that didn’t happen. The Reach had set up these machines all over the world that would reverse the Earth’s magnetic field. We got all of them except for one, in the Arctic. Me, Flash and Impulse, were running around the machine in the opposite direction. I was- I am not as fast as the other two, and the energy needed to disappear somewhere.”  
  
“So it went into you.” Caitlin said, her voice soft.  
  
Wally nodded. “Yeah. I couldn’t stop running, I had to save everyone, so that’s what I did. I kept running and running until the energy had built up, and then, I wasn’t anywhere. It was like I was running through space and time itself.” _

_“The speed force.” Barry crossed his arms. “You were in the speed force.”  
  
“Well, wherever I was, it brought me here.” Wally put his hands on the glass again. “Look, I don’t want to cause any trouble. I just want to go home.”  
  
Caitlin inhaled deeply and turned to Barry. “Bar-”  
  
Barry took Caitlin’s arm and turned her away from Wally. “I know. You think we should help him.”  
  
“Yes, I really do.” Caitlin took Barry’s hand. “I think we can trust him. Besides, if, if we can help him, maybe he can help us.”  
  
Barry sighed and looked over at Wally. “I don’t know. I don’t want him to be another Jay, I don’t know if I can take it, I don’t know if the team can take another betrayal.”  
  
“He won’t be.” Caitlin gripped Barry’s hand tighter. “I really think we can trust him.”  
  
“Okay.” Barry sighed again. “We’ll get Cisco to talk to him, see if he can get a Vibe off of him, but the minute that he senses something is wrong-”  
  
“He gets locked up back in here.” Caitlin finished. _

 

_Barry walked back over to Wally’s holding cell, Caitlin still holding his hand. He pressed a few buttons on a panel and the cell opened up. “Come on.”  
  
Wally hung back. “What?”  
  
“We’ll help you get home.” Barry said. “Or, at least we’ll try to. But, if we do that, we need your help first.”  
  
“I’ll do it.” Wally rushed out. “If you can get me home, I’ll do whatever you need.” _

 

_“Good.” Barry’s eyes narrowed. “If you try to double-cross us, I won’t even hesitate to locking you back up in here.”  
  
“Got it. I understand.”  
  
“This way.” Caitlin started to lead them away from the cells.  
  
“By the way, what happened when I got here?” Wally asked. “I remember coming here through the portal, and I saw that I was in Central City, but it was different to what I know. I panicked and ended up running here to S.T.A.R Labs, I remember there were loads of alarms to, and then, nothing.”  
  
“You passed out.” Caitlin softly called out over her shoulder. “Dehydration apparently. I fixed you up.”  
  
“Oh. Thanks”  
  
“No problem.”  
  
“Here, there’s some people you should meet.” Barry clapped his hand on Wally’s shoulder. “Guys, this is Wally West.” He introduced the redhead to two new people, one he vaguely recognised, the other, not so much. “This is Cisco Ramone, and Harrison - er, Harry Wells.” _

 

_One of the men strode over to Wally and stared down at him. “Allen, are you sure we can trust him?”  
  
“Uhh…”  
  
“Yes.” Barry stepped up next to Wally. “We can. At least I think we can. Trust me on this Harry. We’ll keep an eye on him” _

 

_Harry’s eyes narrowed, and then slowly extended his hand towards Wally. “I hope he is right West.”  
  
“He is.” Wally puffed up his chest slightly. “You can trust me.”  
  
_

_The other person walked over to where they were. His dark hair that reached his chin bounced slightly as he made his way over. “I’m Cisco.Cisco Ramone.”_

_“Cisco Ramone, I-I feel like I know that name.” Wally replied and held out his hand.  
  
Cisco took it and gasped, he jerked his hand back and stared at Wally. “Earth-16…”  
  
“What?” Wally glanced down at his hand. “What just happened?”  
  
“Cisco, did you just get a vibe?” Barry asked.  
  
Cisco nodded. “Yeah, I saw another Earth, his Earth. It was Earth-16.”  
  
“Vibe?” Wally’s eyes widened. “Wait, I do know you! Well, at least another version of you! Holy crap this is awesome! I’ve always wondered what it would be like to meet you!”  
  
“Seriously?” Barry raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Yeah.” Wally said, grinning. “You're a total troublemaker..” _

_“Why thank y-wait-” Cisco pouted. “So I’m a bad guy where you’re from?”  
  
“No, more like, you cause a shit tonne of trouble and stress for The Justice League.”  
  
“The League?” Harry expressed interest. “The League are on your Earth too?”  
  
“Too?” Barry raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? What League?”  
  
“The Justice League is made up of various meta’s and non-meta’s that have dedicated their lives to saving the world from threats, they don’t just protect their own cities.” Harry said.  
  
“And you didn’t think it was important to tell us?” Cisco threw his arms up.  
  
Harry shrugged. “It didn't seem to be of relevance.” _

_“Anyway, this Justice League aside…” Caitlin began. “We have the task of getting Wally home.”_

_“But he’s agreed to help us with our problem first.” Barry replied.  
  
Harry scoffed. “You think he will be able to help us stop Zoom?”  
  
“You guys have Zoom on your Earth too?” Wally sucked in a breath. _

_“I’m guessing he’s there on yours?” Barry asked. “And no, Zoom isn’t from our Earth, he’s from Harry’s Earth.”  
  
“Yeah, he is. Zoom’s tried to kill my uncle Barry before, but I have no idea where he is now. He’s been silent for months and honestly, it was kinda terrifying.” Wally said. “But enough about my Zoom. What is he like here? Is he still Hunter Zolomon? What does he look like?” _

 

_Caitlin tapped a on a few keys and brought up a picture of Hunter Zolomon on the large monitors. “This is him. He pretended to be our friend, he said that his real name was Jay Garrick and he was the Flash on his Earth, the same one Harry is from; he lied to us the whole time we knew him.”  
  
“He told us that Zoom had stolen his speed and last year, when a breach had opened up, he said he got sucked into it” Barry continued. “But in reality he saw me running around the singularity.”  
  
“Why were you-” Wally began.  
  
“I’ll explain later.” Barry said cutting him off. “For now, let’s see how fast you can run.”   _

 

_**Smalltimeskip….** _

 

_Barry crossed his arms and watched Wally run on the treadmill that he had used when he started to train. “How fast is he running?”  
  
“Mach 3.” Caitlin frowned and pressed the intercom button. “Wally you can run at your fastest speed.”  
  
The blur on the treadmill stopped and Wally jumped off, he had his hands on his knees and was breathing heavily. “I was.” _

 

_“Oh.” Barry hesitated, unsure of what to say. “When you said you didn't get the full extent of powers you weren't kidding were you?”_

 

_Wally glared at the floor. “I wasn’t lying.” He pushed open the training area door and leant against the doorframe. “How fast?”  
  
“Mach 3.” Caitlin said. _

 

_“Is that really your top speed?” Cisco asked._

 

_“Yeah, it’s faster than when I first started.” Wally sighed. “Mach 2. I hit Mach 3 speed after about a year I got my powers and I’ve stayed at that speed since.”  
  
“We can help you get faster.” Barry started to say.  
  
Harry watched from a far corner. “Allen that isn’t-”  
  
“We managed to increase my speed.” Barry continued. “There is no reason we can’t increase yours.” _

  
_Wally’s eyes lit up. “You can do that?”_

_  
“Yeah.” Barry grinned. “We can.”  
  
“Hey if we managed to speed up old slowpoke Barry here” Cisco clapped Barry on the back. “Then we can help you.”  
  
_

_“You’re already doing so much for me, thank you so much.” Wally took a step forwards and almost toppled over.  
  
_

_“Wally!” Caitlin rushed forwards. “Are you okay?”  
  
  
“Y-yeah I think so.” Wally stammered. “I-I don’t know what happened.” A erupted from Wally’s stomach. “I guess I just need something to eat. Anyone got a protein bar or something?”  
  
  
“May I propose something with a little more to it.” Harry said. “Ramon let’s go get lunch from Big Belly Burger.”  
  
  
“Wow that’s actually something that you’ve said in the past hour that wasn’t mean or sarcastic.” Cisco said. “But yes, now you’re talking. What do you guys want?”  
  
  
“The usual.” Barry and Caitlin answered at the same time.  
  
  
“What’s Big Belly Burger?” Wally asked.  
  
  
“You don’t know?” Cisco looked offended. “There is much you have to learn.” _

 

**_Flashback_**

_“Who’s this?”_

_“Oh Iris, Joe this is um...Well you see he's uhh…”  
  
_

_“Wally West sir.” Wally stuck out his hand towards the detective, and noticed his stunned expression. “What? What did I say?”  
  
  
  
“You-you’re not Wally.” Joe pointed at him. “No-no Wally’s my son, Barry who is this?”  
  
  
“He’s telling the truth.” Barry said. “He is Wally West.”  
  
  
“He’s from another Earth, Detective.” Harry said. “Earth-16 to be exact.”  
  
_

_“Wally West...Wally West, from another Earth....” Joe dragged his hand down his face. “I’m gonna need a minute…”  
  
Wally retracted his hand and looked over at Caitlin. “Did I do something wrong?”  
  
Caitlin shook her head. “No, it’s like we said, you look different to our Wally.” _

_“Two Wally's. This isn't going to get confusing at all.” Iris said._

_“What do you mean?”_

_“Well, under the circumstance that the two of them are in the same room together, what do you say if you want to talk to this Wally.” Iris gestured towards the red head. “What do we call you?”_

_“Um, well my friends called me Wals if that helps.” The red head offered._

_Joe shook his head. “I call my Wally that.”_

_“Wall-man?” He tried again._

_“Yeah there's no way I'm calling you the Wall-man.” Barry laughed._

_“Let's just call him West and be done with this.” Harry said._

_“I can deal with that” Wally grinned._

_“We can say you're my cousin if needed.” Caitlin said. “We look fairly similar.”_

_“Cool, West it is.” Wally said. “You're sure you don't want to use Wall-man?”_

_“Pretty sure.”  
  
  
“_  

 **_Flashback_**  
_“How fast was I running?”  
  
  
“You're almost at Mach 4.” Cisco grinned. “You’re improving.”  
  
  
“Nice work, Wall-man ” Barry held out his hand for a high five.  
  
  
“Huh?” Wally blinked, and had a delayed reaction towards Barry. “Oh, yeah thanks.”  
  
  
“Are you okay?” Caitlin asked.  
  
_ _  
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Wally said. “I’m going to go change.” He left, leaving the three of them staring after his retreating figure.  
  
  
Barry started to follow him, but Caitlin called out to him. “Wait, Barry, let me go.”  
  
  
“Are you sure?” _

_“Yeah.” Caitlin put her hand on his chest. “You’re not exactly, the best with people.”  
  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Barry frowned. _

_Caitlin smirked and kissed him on the cheek. “It’s lucky you’re cute.” Was all she said before she left to go and follow Wally._

_“Is that true?” Barry asked._

_“Is what true?”  
  
“That I’m not the best with people.”  
  
Cisco held out his hand and made a so-so movement with his hand. “Eh” _

_\----------_

_Wally was sitting in the med bay on one of the makeshift beds. He had one of his Kid Flash gloves in his hand, using the holo-projection tech in the glove to look over at pictures._

_  
“Hey.”  
  
“Caitlin.” Wally sniffed and wiped at his eyes. “Hey.”  
  
Caitlin smiled and sat down beside him. “Tell me about them.”  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“Your friends. Tell me stories about them.”  
  
“Oh-okay.” Wally swiped at the hologram and chose a picture. “This is my best friend Dick, although, I’m pretty sure he thinks I hate him.”  
  
“Why’s that?” Caitlin asked him.  
  
“I-I kinda said to him. Well, I-I yelled at him, blamed for something that he couldn’t have known was going to happen. I hadn’t even spoken to him before I-”  
  
“W ally.” Caitlin put her hand on his shoulder. “Tell me about a happy memory.”  
_

_“There were lots.” He said. “Oh, there was this one thing, round about the time we first met, we -uh, took the, the Bat-mobile for a joyride. Dick drove, the kid was 10 at the time.” He showed Caitlin the photo,  
  
  
it showed Wally, and a boy Caitlin could only assume was Dick. Wally was smiling, looking off camera slightly, hand raised in a peace sign, his cheeks tinged with a slight pink. The other boy, Dick, had his head on his shoulder smiling ; the boys dark hair was styled up into a quiff, and a pair of blackout sunglasses hung from his shirt, his face also had a slight pink tone to it. _

_“Did you get caught?”_

_  
“Yeah, we were out for a full ten minutes before Bats found out and redirected the Batmobile back to the cave. To say he was pissed was an understatement, Uncle B was more amused that we managed to get away so long. Alfred, Dick’s butler, thought we’d last about five minutes before Bruce noticed.” He laughed.  
  
_

_“When was this photo taken?”  
  
“This was on Dick’s 18th birthday, I might’ve bought him a couple of drinks, and might’ve gotten him a little drunk.” Wally swiped at the hologram again ; this time, it showed a picture of him and a girl with long, dark hair, Wally was sitting on a couch with a surprised look on his face, the girl, Caitlin guessed, had snuck up behind him, grinning widely at the camera as she place a crown of flowers on top of his head. “This is Zatanna, she’s a magic user. Teleporting, fire-wielding, the whole lot. My favourite memory with her, I guess it would be when we stayed out in the rain for almost seven hours for the Star Trek Into Darkness premiere in New York. We put up with each other’s bad jokes for that long and surprisingly didn’t kill each other.”  
  
  
  
  
  
He swiped again onto another photo.  
  
  
“This is M’gann, that’s her Martian name, she goes by that, or by Megan. This is the time when we baked a giant cupcake for Connor’s birthday.” The photo showed Wally, and a girl with bright, orange hair like his own and green skin; with icing on their face in the form of pink frosted mustaches, M’gann was pouting slightly as she pointed to hers, Wally was smirking, not seeming to mind the mess of flour on his black hoodie. _

_“Oh right, I haven’t shown you Connor yet!” Another photo.”This was on Halloween one year. Connor and I were dressed up as Damon and Kai from The Vampire Diaries and- wait you **do** have the show here right?” _

  
_Caitlin giggled. “Yes we do. Barry and I watch it together, although don't tell him I told you that.”_

_  
“Same here, Connor and I sort of watched it when no one was around. But everyone somehow knew, so one year I convinced him to dress up with me.” The picture showed two boys with brooding faces; although Caitlin could see Wally trying not to smile. Wally, had spray painted his hair brown, Caitlin could tell it was him as small fractions of his original hair colour came through in his hairline, and the freckles that loitered his face were prominent. Other than that, he had fake blood down one side of his face, and had more fake blood spilling over onto his white shirt and black blazer on the opposite side. The other boy’s expression was so stern, Caitlin wondered if he always looked like that - unlike Wally, the boy - Connor’s suit was in pristine condition, apart from the odd patch of blood on his shirt and collar.  
_

  
_“Is he always grumpy like that or is he doing that face for the photo?” Caitlin asked._

_  
Wally laughed. “Connor isn’t always grumpy, that’s just his natural expression. It scared the shit outta ‘Tanna for weeks after she joined the Team. Now this, this is Kaldur.” Wally swiped onto the next picture, it showed Wally and a dark skinned boy, both with their hand raised in a greeting at the camera.  
  
  
  
  
Caitlin saw that the other boy, Kaldur , had “ Wally is that webbing between his fingers?”  
  
Wally nodded. “Yeah, Kal’s an Atlantean, can’t you see his gills?” He pointed to Kaldur’s neck, and Caitlin squinted her eyes, gasping as she saw them.  
  
“That’s-that’s amazing!”  
  
“I’ve never been there, you know, kinda have to breathe underwater to go.”  
  
Caitlin smiled. “When was this taken? You’re dressed up fancy.” She said, commenting on the boy’s smart shirts and blazers. _

_“Yeah we were undercover at a Wayne Gala, we had intel that someone was going to try to plant a bomb, so the Bat called us in. Me and Kal acted as security.” Wally swiped at the hologram again. “And this, is my girlfriend,Artemis.”  
  
“She’s very pretty.”  
  
“She’s beautiful.” Wally said.  
  
  
  
The picture showed Wally, with a blonde haired girl, she had on a black beanie that read ‘Stanford University’. She had a book lying on her chest, her grey eyes had a look of fierce intensity, that Caitlin couldn’t help feel slightly intimidated by. Wally held a similar expression on his face, but wasn’t quite as intimidating. A backpack was slung over his shoulders, and the collars of his shirt were upturned.  
  
“What’s your major?”  
  
“Artemis had a double major in Human Biology and Comparative Literature. I’m a Physics major.” Wally said. “Although, you know, haven’t gotten to finish it yet. The whole disappearing act and all.”_

_“I’m a trained neurosurgeon.” Caitlin said, she place a hand on Wally’s shoulder. “Wally, we made a promise that we would get you home, and I swear to you, after everything is over, we’re going to help you get back.”  
  
Wally’s eyes welled up slightly.“I know, I know, it’s just, I miss them all, and I didn’t exactly say the nicest things to most of them, and oh god what if they hate me and-”  
  
“Wally,” Caitlin stopped him. “Your friends could never hate you, I know we haven’t known each other very long, but I know you’re a good person.” Wally looked like he was on the verge of crying, which he did, Caitlin pulled him into a hug, and slowly rubbed circles into his back, Wally sobbed into her shoulder. “Everything is going to be okay.” _

_They were joined by two more sets of arms. “Sorry.” Barry’s voice was muffled. “We overheard everything.”  
  
“And saw all the pictures.” Cisco said. Everyone retracted from the hug. “That dark haired girl is pretty cute. She single?”  
  
“As far as I know.” Wally laughed. “She’s also nineteen.”  
  
_

_“Aww man.”  
  
“Who’re you hitting on now Cisco?” Jesse called out from the door. “Are you guys having group hugs without us?” She turned to Harry. “Dad let’s get in on this!”  
  
“I don’t hug people.” Harry remarked.  
  
“Yes you do.” Jesse insisted and pulled on his arm. She threw her arms around Wally. “Come on guys, group hug!”  
  
_

_Harry muttered under his breath about how they didn’t have time for group hugs, and awkwardly patted Wally as they hugged._

**_Flashback_**

_“KF, get Wally out of here.”  
Kid Flash nodded and took his other self away from S.T.A.R Labs.  
  
Zoom pulled off his mask and smirked. “Now that wasn’t so hard was it?”  
  
“ One day... I'm gonna knock that smug expression clean off your face.” Harry said, his voice raised just above a whisper.”  
  
“I would love to see you try.” Zoom’s features twisted into a sickening grin.  
  
“So this was your plan all along, huh?” Barry said, glaring at the other speedster.  
  
“Ever since the skies parted and showed me another world... with another speedster. Once I saw you, I came here, figured out what I had to do.”_

_“How are you still alive? We saw you die.” Caitlin asked, her voice wavered.  
  
“You did.” Zoom replied.    
  
“So what was that? A speed mirage?” Barry asked bitterly.  
  
Zoom chuckled. “Speed mirage? Uh, no. Even I'm not that fast. I knew that I couldn't be on two Earths at the same time, so I went back in time and, uh, met another version of myself.”    
  
“Your time remnant.” Cisco said. “Like the Reverse-Flash.”  
  
“I also knew that the only way to make Barry become faster was if you all witnessed your old pal Jay die.”  
  
“When did you decide to do that?”  
  
“Oh, once you closed all the breaches, went to Earth-2. Believe me, getting my time remnant to agree to me murdering him took a bit of convincing. But once he saw the... well, the genius in my plan, he was all for it.”  
  
“Who's the man in the iron mask?” Barry demanded.  
  
“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”  
  
“Why the charade? Running around dressed like The Flash?” Joe asked, glaring at the Speedster clad in black.  
  
“To give people hope, Detective.”  
  
“Hope?” Joe tilted his head slightly.  
  
“So I could rip it away from them. It's so fun pretending to be a hero.” Zoom grinned.  
  
“You are no hero.You're nothing but a monster.” Cisco spat.  
  
Zoom looked pale, like a memory had come flooding back to him. He snarled. “No!” And grabbed Barry by the front of his suit.  
  
Joe fired his gun, narrowly missing Barry. “Bear!”  
  
“It's all right, Joe.” Barry held up his hands. “I’ll do it.” _

_  
_ _“Barry wait!” Kid Flash came back into the room. “How about we make a deal Zoom?”_

_“Wally what are you doing?!”_

_“What I have to.” The redhead replied. “So how about it Zolomon?”_

_Zoom laughed. “What could you possibly offer me?”_

_Wally took a deep breath, his green eyes set in a cold stare. “My speed.”_

_“Kid no!”_

_“Take my speed instead, but let Barry go.”  
  
  
“Your speed?” Zoom let go of his hold on Barry.  
  
  
“So do we have a deal?” Kid Flash held his head high. _

_Zoom rushed to stand in front of him, and grabbed him by the throat. “Your speed…” He drawled. “Is nothing to me.” He pulled Wally close. “You’re too slow **Kid Flash…”** Zoom pushed away Wally, sending him crashing into the equipment trolleys. _

_“Wally!” Barry zipped over to his side and helped the younger man stand up. “Are you okay?”  
  
  
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Wally insisted. “Barry, you can’t do this.” _

_“I have to, for everyone’s safety.” Barry looked over at Harry. “So how do we do this?”_

_“This thing is how I stole the Flash’s speed the first time. Now all he needs to do is run and his speed force will transfer into this vial, but only as long as I calibrate it.” Harry held up a small device._

_Zoom smirked. “Better get to work.”_

_Harry snarled and pointed his gun towards Zoom, but lowered it when he had his hands wrapped around Barry’s throat again.  
…..  
Barry ran on the treadmill, going at full speed at first, and then started to slow down.  
  
“He’s tiring.” Joe whispered. “Slowing down.”  
  
“The Speed Force is leaving his body.” Cisco said, his voice hushed. “He's becoming human again.” _

_  
**Beep!beep!beep!beep!**  
The device went, as the last of Barry’s speed left his body.  
  
Barry got off the treadmill, panting and breathing heavily. He pushed open the training room door and leant against the frame. _

_  
“Barry, are you okay?” Iris asked.  
  
“I'm okay. I'm okay.”  
  
Zoom laughed, and picked up the device, he studied it for a moment before injected it into himself.  
He laughed again, and zipped over to Barry, closing his hands around his neck once more. “Thank you, Flash.”  
  
“Jay, stop. Please.” Caitlin looked between Barry and Zoom, her eyes started to glisten with tears.  
  
Joe cocked his gun and pointed it at Zoom. “Let him go!”  
  
“Let Barry go Zoom!” Wally shouted, ready to charge at him.  
  
“If anything you ever said to me was true,  please just let him go.” Caitlin pleaded with Jay. “Please. I know some piece of you did care, so if you have any humanity left, then please, let him go.”  
  
Zoom released his hold on Barry, and zipped out of the room, taking Caitlin with him.  
  
“Caitlin!” Barry yelled, before he passed out into Wally’s arms. _

 

**_Flashback_**

_Barry stepped into the cortex and saw Harry already leaning against the railing, looking at where the Flash suit was. “You’re here early.”_

_Harry turned to look at back at Barry, and his voice was low. “Yeah.”_

_“I couldn’t sleep.” Barry said, walking around the computers._

_“Me neither.”_

_Barry stood next to Harry, and put his hands into his pockets. “I know that we just took down Grey without my powers, but I have no idea how to get Caitlin back without them. Wally can’t keep running around and being the Flash for us forever, I promised I’d get him home.”_

_“We can't save Snow without your powers Allen.” Harry sighed. “We can’t send West home yet either.”_

_“Then what are we gonna do? Barry clenched his fists. “I can’t lose her.”  
  
_

_“You know, Grey... Grey kidnapped me because he thought I was the Harrison Wells from this Earth, and I know he was talking about another guy, but I just I can't help but think I still haven't paid for what I've done.”_

_“What does that mean?”  
_

_Footsteps echoed through the cortex, Wally entered, holding his glove in one hand and a screwdriver in the other. “Oh, hey guys,-”  
  
_

_Harry took a deep breath. “I thought, you know, when you When we closed the breaches, I could just forget about everything I've done, but I can't. I realize what I can do.”_

_“Wait what’s going on?” Wally asked, lowering the glove and tool._

_  
“Honestly, I’m not sure Wally.” Barry said, slightly frowning. “What are you doing here anyway?”_

_Wally held up  his glove. “Fixing this.What are you talking about?”  
  
_

_Harry smirked “Hopefully, there’s something I can do, and I think you can help me.”_

_“Ookay?” Wally seemed uncertain about it._

_Barry looked between them. “What are you going to do, Harry?”_

_“You are gonna get your speed back, Allen. And I'm gonna help you do that.”  
  
  
“How?”  
  
  
“Harry-”  
  
  
Harry laughed softly. “By creating another particle accelerator explosion.” _

_**  
** **_Flashback_** _

_**  
** “The night Barry was struck by lightning, he was doing fingerprint analysis.” Harry explained.  “Those chemicals got in his system then, and they are going in now.” _

_  
“So you're injecting them into him?” Henry frowned.  
  
_

_“ We have to recreate everything that happened to Barry that night.” Wally said, running a hand through his red hair.  
  
_

_“And you’re agreeing with all this?” Joe asked.  
  
_

_“Kind of, sort of.” Wally sighed.“It’s better than what I did to get my powers.”_

_Wells stood over a control panel. “Ready Allen?”  
  
  
“Ready.” Barry nodded. “I’ll be okay.” He said, to everyone in the room. He stared at a spot on the wall, and a single tear fell down his face. _

_Harry pressed a button, and the door shut tight, and the chemicals were injected into Barry. They took effect immediately, Barry screaming as a result of them._

_“Barry!” Iris exclaimed as he screamed out in pain.  
  
  
“I'm okay, Iris!” Barry yelled back.  
  
_

_“Hold on, Barry.” Wally yelled. “Hold on!”  
  
_

_“God!” Joe put a hand over his mouth.  
  
  
“He's going hydrostatic!” Henry pointed out over Wally’s shoulder as he peered down at the control panel with Barry’s vitals. _

_  
_ _“Almost there. Almost there.” Harry whispered._

 _  
_ _“Wells!” Joe yelled._

_  
_

_“Almost there.” Harry said again, he pressed the intercom button. “Ready, Ramon?  
  
_

_“Ready!”  Cisco’s voice crackled over the intercom.  
  
  
Harry nodded at Wally, who nodded back in response. “Now!” _

_**  
** “Expecto Patronum!” Cisco yelled over the intercom. The crackle of lightning could be faintly heard. “Great Scott! It's working!”  
  
**  
** Barry screamed again, louder, and sounding much more in pain than before.  
**  
  
** “Initiating collision.”  
  
Barry screamed once more as the electricity hit him, sparks flew everywhere, and everyone ducked as the energy blast ricocheted off the machine and flew straight towards them. Wally peered over the control panel, and watched with wide eyes as Barry vapourized right in front of him. The others slowly stood up, and looked around.  
  
  
“Where’s Barry?”  
  
_

_Cisco came back into the room. “It worked! Is everyone okay? What happened?”  
  
  
“No! No...” _

_“What did you do to my son?” Henry looked ready to pass out.  
  
Zoom ran into the room, and picked up the tattered remains of Barry’s Flash suit. “You thought you could give The Flash his speed back? Well done. You killed him instead.” _

**_Flashback_**

 

**_“Run, Barry. Run!”_ **

_Barry jumped out of the speedforce portal, and watched it close up behind him. “It worked…”  
  
  
“Barry!” Iris hugged him tightly.  
  
  
“It worked!” Henry hugged Joe, rejoicing as Barry returned.  
  
_

_“Nice to have you back Allen.” Henry said, wiping his forehead._

_“Barry! Barry!” Cisco clapped him on the back.  “Ha ha! I'm so glad you're back, 'cause we about to die.”_

_“Wait what? What’s going on? Where’s Wally?” Barry asked.  
  
  
“With Jesse.” Harry grimaced.  
  
  
“No the other Wally.” _

_  
_ _“Keeping Girder busy.”_

_  
“Girder? But he’s-”  
  
The doors flew open, and Kid Flash slid across the floor on his back, landing by Barry’s feet. “Ow…” He looked up. “Hey Barry, glad you’re back. We sorta need your help.” He immediately got up and zipped to the door, holding it shut along with Joe as they tried to keep Girder out.  
  
“So - Girder is-” Barry spluttered as there were loud bangs on the door as it threatened to open. _

_  
_ _Cisco was the one to respond. “Girder came back to life, and he's all Young Frankenstein now, and he only recognizes Iris, and she lured him to my workshop so we could demagnetise him, but the machine shorted out, so he's about to come through that door and smush us all into chunky salsa and possibly eat our brains out.”_

**_Flashback_**

_Two lights bolted into the cortex, Wally and Barry. Wally pulled off his cowl and stared incredulously at the other man. “Barry, dude,  don’t you think you should slow down?”  
  
  
“Slow down?” Barry took off his own cowl. “What are you talking about?”  
  
  
“I’m talking about those Metas, you took them down in like three minutes!”  
  
  
“Gotta get the job done right.” Barry shrugged, and looked around. “Where are the others?”  
  
  
“Dude, all I’m saying is that you’ve been taking these guys down one at a time, not 100 at a time.” Wally said. “You don’t even seem overwhelmed! Heck, you're whelmed!” _

_**  
** “I know we can do it.” Barry said. “We take down these Meta’s, then we take down Zoom. With the two of us, we can get it done even faster.”  
  
  
“Sure if you actually let me help…” _

_Cisco rushed into the cortex.”Guys. You have to come see this.”_

_Barry followed close behind. “Cisco, what are you-” He stopped. “Caitlin?” He rushed towards her.  
  
  
“She's in shock.” Harry said. _

_Henry was knelt down beside her. “A little dehydrated and malnourished, but I think she'll be fine.” He said and stepped back and Barry went over._

_“I'm okay.” Caitlin whispered.  
  
  
Barry knelt down in front of her, and took her hands. “I-” _

_“What happened?” Iris asked.  
  
  
“How did you get away?” Wally added.    
  
_

_Caitlin was quiet for a moment. “He let me go. I didn't think he would; I thought it was a trap.” Her voice went shaky and her eyes started to water. “But he told me you were dead.”_

_“I'm not.” Barry put his hand on her cheek. “I'm right here. We're all here, together.”_

_“Snow. Jay's not here.” Harry said._

_“You're safe.” Barry assured her. “You’re with with us. With me.”_

_Caitlin shook her head. “He's gonna overrun the city. You can't stop him.”_

_“Yes, we can Cait. Listen to me, he's not going to succeed. We've got this. This is our Earth.” Barry put his hand on her cheek._

_“You don't know that. You don't know what he is capable of.”_

_“I know from being in the Speed Force that the universe is with us, not Zoom.  
  
_

_And if the universe is with us, how could we possibly lose? Right, guys?” Barry looked around for support.  
  
  
“Yeah, yeah, right.” Wally was the one who answered after Barry glared at him.  
  
  
“You've been through a lot. “ Barry said, turning back to Caitlin. “You should get some rest, come on.” He helped her stand, placing one hand around her waist and the other holding tightly onto her hand. _

_“You were in the Speed Force?” Caitlin asked.  
  
_

_“ I-when you were gone. It's hard to explain, but we tried to get my powers back and…” his voice trailed off as he led Caitlin to the Med Bay.  
  
_

_Joe waited until Barry was out of earshot. “Okay, I'm gonna say it. Um, we don't think he's being just a little too - “  
  
_

_“Overconfident? Yeah.” Wally sighed. "Emphasis on over"  
  
  
“Maybe it was his time in the Speed Force.” Cisco responded. “I mean, he's acting like he's invincible now or something.” _

_…….  
  
_

_Joe held up his champagne glass. “First, a toast. To family.”_

_  
“To family.” Everyone responded, holding up their glasses in response._

_  
Cisco took a sip. “That's my kind of toast, short and sweet. Let's eat.”  
  
  
Wally went over to Caitlin and his redhead counterpart. “So, West right? You’re Caitlin’s cousin?”  
  
  
“Yes. That’s me.” The redhead responded. “West Snow.”  
  
  
“You’ve never mentioned him before Caitlin.”  
  
  
“Wa-West lives in Atlanta.” Caitlin stuttered. “We rarely see each other.”  
  
  
The other boy was suspicious. “Right…”  
  
  
Cisco gasped loudly. “Earth 2” _

_**  
** “Cisco? What What is it? What'd you see?” Barry rushed over to his friend.  
  
  
“What do you mean "see"?” Iris’ brother asked.  
  
  
“Cisco gets visions.” Caitlin spoke, appearing on his other side. _

_  
“I don't understand.” Cisco mumbled._

_  
“What is it Cisco?”  
  
“Earth-2 splitting in half. Straight down to the poles.” Cisco snapped out of his trance.  “Tell me I didn't just vibe the future. Please tell me I did not just see the end of the world!”  
  
  
A black streak rushed into the room, Zoom wrapped an arm around Henry’s throat.  
  
_

_“Our story continues, Flash.” He said before rushing out.”_

_  
“Henry!” Dr McGee cried.  
  
  
“Oh, my God.” _

_**  
** “Dad!” Barry chased after him, zipping out of the West household at top speed. _

_  
“Damnit!” Joe cursed. “Wally follow him!”_

_“Follow him?! Dad what are you talking about?!”_

_“Not you!” Joe pointed at his son. “Kid Flash, go!”_

_  
_ _The redhead had just put his goggles on. “On it Joe.” He said, before speeding off to follow the other speedsters._

_“What the hell is going on?” Wally asked. “Ohmygod, Barry’s the Flash isn’t he? And the other one, West, he’s Kid Flash?”  
  
  
“We’ll explain later.” Caitlin put in her comm link. “Wally you found them yet?”  
  
  
“I’m right here!”  
  
  
“Not you!” Caitlin cried. “Kid Flash have you found them?”  
  
  
“No!” Kid Flash said over the intercom. “I lost them!”  
  
  
“What do you mean you lost them?” Cisco asked.  
  
  
“I mean I lost them what else?!”  
  
  
Joe had a realisation. “Kid, go to Barry’s old house.”  
  
  
“Where is it?”  
  
_ ______

_**  
** “This time, you're gonna watch your parent die just like I did.” Zoom said. _

_  
“No, no! -”  
  
  
“And this is what's gonna make you just like me!” The dark speedster yelled.  
  
  
“Your mother and I love -” Henry was cut off, and Zoom vibrated his hand through his chest. He dropped him, and sped away, just as Kid Flash arrived.  
  
  
“No!” Barry screamed, and caught his father’s lifeless figure in his arms. “Dad? Dad come on, no, no, no, dad please don’t”  
  
  
“Barry?” Kid Flash slowly stepped into the room and saw what happened. “Henry? Oh god, Barry I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”  
  
  
“This wasn’t your fault.” Barry’s voice wobbled. “This was Zoom’s. I’m going to make him pay for what he’s done.” _

 

 **_Flashback_** **  
  
**

_Barry sighed and rested his head against the porch gate. “Can't stop thinking about my dad's doppelganger. Seeing him, knowing that he's out there, that should've made it easier. It doesn't. It just made me miss him even more.”  
  
  
Caitlin sat down beside him. “I can't imagine how hard that must have been. But we won. We just beat Zoom.”  
  
  
Barry looked at her. “Why does it feel like I just lost?”  
  
  
Caitlin took his hand. “You've lost a lot in your life, Barry, more than most people go through.” _

_  
Barry placed a hand on her cheek, leant forwards, and kissed her.  
  
  
“What was that for?” She asked as he pulled away.  
  
  
“I love you.”  
  
  
Caitlin smiled, and traced his lips with her fingertips. “I love you too. Are you going to come back inside?”  
  
  
Barry nodded. “Yeah, in a moment.”  
  
  
“Okay.” Caitlin kissed his cheek, and stood up going back inside.  
  
  
Barry sighed. “I’m sorry Cait, but I have to do this.” Barry ran. Faster than before, and opened up a time-breach, heading to the past.  
  
_

_\--------------------------------  
“Barry!” Nora Allen yelled. “Get away from here!”  
  
  
“Mom!” A young Barry yelled back, before he was swept away by a blur.  
  
  
“Barry!” Nora sobbed, as a menacing speedster in yellow approached her. “No....”  
  
_ _“No.” An adult Barry cried, tackling the Reverse Flash to the ground. “You're not gonna kill her this time. You're not gonna kill her ever again.” He slammed the Reverse Flash’s head to the ground, knocking him out. “ A door creaked open, and Barry saw himself staring back, shaking his head, and then disappearing. He heard Nora gasp, and continue to sob. Barry stood up and slowly approached her.”No. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm not gonna hurt you. Okay? I'm not gonna hurt you. You're safe. You're safe now.”_ **  
** **  
** **__Flashback__** **  
** _“Barry!”_

_  
“Wally?” Barry held the redhead steady. “Are you okay?”  
  
  
Wally shook his head. “No, no I don’t...I don’t know what’s going on, but, but I remember the timeline. You changed it. Didn’t you?”  
  
  
“Wally-”  
  
“You went back in time and saved your mum didn’t you? Wally said. “Barry you have to fix it.”  
  
  
Barry shook his head. “I can’t. For the first time in a long time, I have my family back together. I can’t lose them again.”  
  
  
“Barry, what you did changed everything. There’s some new evil speedster. You aren’t the Flash, you don’t know any of the others, they don’t remember you-”  
  
  
“Then how do you?” Barry snapped. “How do you remember me?”  
  
  
“I don’t know okay?” Wally spat back. “All I know is that I remember the timeline you created before. And...and I’m losing my speed.”  
  
  
“What?”  
  
“I don’t know how or why, but I can feel it draining from my body. It’s like someone is draining my speed or something. I don’t know, Barry, when you changed the timeline, it created repercussions everywhere. It’ll have an effect on everyone.” Wally leant back against the wall, sweat dripped down his face, causing his red hair to clamp to his forehead. “Things need to go back to normal.”  
  
Barry shook his head. “I’m sorry Wally. But I’m not going to change the timeline again. I can’t.” He said, before running away. _

_  
“Barry!” Wally tried to go after him, but he dropped to the floor after a sharp pain shot up his leg.  
  
\-----  
  
Barry grimaced. “Alright Thawne. I’m only doing this because I made everything worse for everyone else.” _

_“Glad you see it that way.” Thawne stood up in his cell. “So what happened?”  
  
  
“I-I almost got Wally killed.”  
  
  
“You mean the redhead right? Good he was annoying.”  
  
  
“No, the other one.” Barry said, opening the cell. “Iris’s brother. But the other one, the real Kid Flash, said he felt like someone was draining his speed. I need you to fix this.”  
  
Thawne held up his arms. “I am the answer to all your prayers. All you need to do is ask me, Barry.”  
  
_

_Barry stared him down. “We need to go back in time. To that night.”_

_  
“To do what?” Thawne smirked.  
  
  
“You know what I need you to do.” _

_  
“Yeah. But I want to hear you say it.”_

_  
“I need you to kill my mother.” Barry said._

_  
“With pleasure.”_

_  
“I hate you.” Barry spat._

_  
“And I hate you.” Thawne’s features pulled into a sickening grin._

_  
Barry briefly turned his back on Thawne to speak to Iris. “I’m sorry about all this.”  
  
  
“You say that we knew each other? In this alternative timeline?” Iris asked. “And we're friends?"  
  
  
“Yeah, we're friends.” Barry said softly. “Whether we will be once I tell you what I did, we’ll see.”  
  
  
Iris smiled. “I’m sure we will be. It seems strange to wish you luck, but good luck.”  
  
  
“Thank you Iris.”  
  
  
“Will we remember?” Iris asked. “This timeline?”  
  
  
Thawne answered her.  “It'll be like it never happened.” _

_  
“I'll see you soon.” Barry said, and stood by Thawne._

_**  
** “God, I wish I could kill you.” Thawne gripped the back of Barry’s shirt. “But today, I get to be the hero.  
  
__ _

_“Barry!” Nora sobbed, as a mencing speedster in yellow approached her. “No....”  
  
“No.” An adult Barry cried, tackling the Reverse Flash to the ground. “You're not gonna kill her this time. You're not gonna kill her ever again.” He slammed the Reverse Flash’s head to the ground, knocking him out. “ A door creaked open, and Barry saw himself staring back, shaking his head, and then disappearing. He heard Nora gasp, and continue to sob. Barry stood up and slowly approached her.”No. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm not gonna hurt you. Okay? I'm not gonna hurt you. You're safe. You're safe now.” **  
**  
“Actually She's not.”  
  
Past Barry looked over to see the Reverse Flash standing over him. “Wha-” was all he could say before he was knocked out. _

_  
“Please don't hurt me.” Nora whispered._

_  
Reverse Flash said nothing, and killed Nora Allen once more, just like he had all those years ago._

_**  
** Thawne ran Barry back to the present, back outside the West household. He chuckled “Things are back to how they should be.Well, for me, anyway. For you, Well, I guess you'll just have to wait and find out.” _

_  
“What? What does that mean?” Barey stared at him._

_  
_ _Thawne smirked. “See you sometime soon, Flash.” He said, before running away._

_Barry laid his hand on the front door, and then pushed it open, his eyes landing upon both Wally's, Caitlin, and Joe. Barry grinned, and rushed over to hug Wally_

_  
“What's this for?” Wally clapped Barry on the back.  
  
  
Barry shook his head and smiled. “Just glad you're here.” He moved over Joe's side and hugged him too. _

_  
“Are you okay? Oh-ho.”_

_“Uh-huh” Barry responded, and hugged the redheaded Wally._

_“You sure dude?”_

_“I'm sure.”_

_Barry hugged Caitlin, and kissed her on the lips, he tightly held onto her hand as he sat down on the sofa. “You're acting strange” Caitlin said. “Are you sure you're okay?”_

_  
Barry nodded. “Yeah, I am now.”_

_  
“Yeah?” Wally raised an eyebrow at him._

_  
“You just lost your father, Barry. You don't have to be okay.” Joe tilted his head, staring at Barry with concern._

_  
“Actually, I feel closer to my parents than I ever have.” Barry answered back._

_  
Joe nodded. “Well, good, son. - To your pops.” he held out his beer bottle._

_  
“To Henry.”_

_  
“To my Dad.” Barry took a swig of his drink. “Where's Iris?”  
_

_West choked, Wally stared and Caitlin had a look of confusion on his face.  
  
Joe frowned. “That ain't funny. I'm gonna chalk that up to grief.” He put down the bottle. “I'll see you all in the morning.” He pointed at Caitlin and Barry. “I don't want to hear anything coming from your room, and West, the covers are in the bathroom cupboard, top shelf.” _

_  
“Thanks, night Joe.” The redhead called out._

_Barry watched Joe’s retreating figure. “What was that about?”  
  
  
“Are you kidding me? You know Iris isn't here.” Wally said. _

_  
“What?” Barry asked, clearly confused.  
  
  
“They don't talk, Barry.You know that.” Wally said, before leaving to go upstairs. _

_“Barry, are you sure you're okay?” Caitlin asked, eyes filled with worry._

_“Y-yeah, I'm fine Cait, just tired.”  
  
_

_Caitlin raised an eyebrow. “Alright, I'll meet you upstairs. I have to use the bathroom.” She said and left._

_  
“Oh, God....” Barry flipped down onto the sofa again, realising what he had done._

_“Barry? What's wrong?” West asked. “Seriously dude, you look like you want to die right now.”_

_“I screwed up KF.” Barry said. “I think I screwed up big time.”_

**  
** **__Flashback__**

_“Where's Barry?”  
  
_

_Barry rushed back into the room. “I need to tell you all something. The truth.”_

_“The truth about what?” Iris asked._

_Barry sighed. “Okay, um after Zoom killed my dad, after we defeated him, um I wasn't in a great place, and I felt like the only way I could fix that was to run back in time and save my mom.”_

_“You stopped the Reverse-Flash from killing your mom?” Caitlin asked, her voice fairly quiet.  
  
_

_Barry nodded. “Yeah.”_

_“Wait, so, is she alive?” Wally asked.  
  
_

_“Uh, she was.” Barry replied. “For a few months. I lived with her and my dad. I had a completely different life. I wasn't even The Flash for most of it.”_

_Wally frowned. “I don't understand. You created a whole other existence. How is that possible?”_

_Barry sighed, unsure of how to explain it. His eyes landed on a wipe board and he picked up the erasable marker. “Okay, um I'll do the this is the timeline.” He draw a long line across the board. “This is the point that we exist on it right now.” He drew a dot.”This past point is where my mom was murdered.” He drew another dot. “So when I saved her, I created a new reality. A new timeline. - I was living in -” He drew a diagonal line from that dot._

_“A mirror universe.”_

_“ It's called a Flashpoint, apparently.” Barry corrected. “Uh, West, he was the only one that remembered I changed the timeline. In Flashpoint...and now. I told him the night I reset the timeline and thought things went back to normal.”  
  
“You knew?” Cisco looked ready to start yelling. “Why didn’t you tell us?” _

_The redhead shrugged. “Wasn’t my place to tell you.”  
  
  
“But after what he did? He-You both had no right to keep this from us!”  
  
  
“Like I said.” West sighed. “It wasn’t my place to tell you. Barry wanted to tell you when he was ready, and I respected that decision.”  
  
  
Cisco looked ready to yell again, but Iris spoke up first. “You decided to leave it.” She asked, quickly changing the subject. “Why?”  
  
_

_“That life started to spin out of control.” Barry explained. “This guy, Clariss, he was a Speedster there, too. He was known as the Rival. He caused a lot of problems. So, um I decided to run back in time again and let things happen as they were supposed to, in hopes of resetting the timeline, but -”  
  
_

_“But what?” Joe asked.  
  
_

_“But, um, when I came back, things weren't the same.”_

_“You mean people. Like us.” Caitlin said._

_Barry nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Um, I created another timeline. Uh, it's the one we're living in now. It's not as different as the last one. Not in large ways, but in some ways, in smaller ways, and, uh, meaningful ways for all of you or anybody that's close to me. And I can't ever really put it back together.”_

_Joe took a deep breath. “Barry, that's a lot to take in.”_

_“Yeah, it is.”_

_“We got along in that other life, my dad and I, didn't we?” Iris realised.  “That's why you've been working so hard to get us talking again.”_

_Barry sighed again. “Okay, here's the thing. Um, I will tell you what's different, all of you, if you wanna know. But you have to live with those differences because I can't change it again. But at least you'll know. And you all deserve that choice.”_

_Cisco huffed.  “So you decided it was okay to change things when someone in your family dies, but when it's someone in my family -” Cisco stormed out of the room.  
  
_

_“I'm gonna go talk to him.” Barry started to follow.  
  
  
“Barry.” West called out.  
  
  
“What?”  
  
  
“Just...be wary of what you say to him.” West sighed.  
  
  
Barry nodded. “Hey. What are you working on?” He asked as he shuffled into Cisco’s lab.  
  
_

_Cisco was aggressively stabbing something with a screwdriver. “These are the gauntlets for my suit. And you probably know nothing about that. Do you?”  
  
_

_“I'm really trying here, Cisco.”_

_  
_ _“Barry, I'm the one who's been trying. I've been trying this whole time to get you to do this one thing for me, but you kept saying, "No, Cisco. I can't, Cisco. I would never do that, Cisco. "’ He mocked Barry’s voice. “And now you're telling me you went and did it - for yourself.”_

_Barry stared at his friend. “Were you listening? It it went bad. It went really bad.”_

_“I don't care! At least I'd have my brother back.”_

_Barry snapped at him. “Yeah, you would have him back, but because of it, somebody might have something happen to them that's just as awful as what happened to Dante, and trust me, you don't want that on your conscience. It's a heavy burden to bear. And I don't know how many times I've said this, but I'm really sorry about Dante, man.”_

_Cisco scoffed. “Sorry doesn't change anything.”_

_“No, it doesn't, but I can't go back. I can't change it. All I can do is move forward. I really hope you can too.”  
  
___ _

_“Alright I’ll address the elephant in the room. So what?” Iris asked._

_“He changed our lives, Iris. And he kept that secret from us. You really just want us to just be okay with that?” Wally scoffed._

_  
“Wally, is that he made a mistake.” West said. “Just like everyone else.”_

_“No, you, you don’t get to talk.” Cisco pointed. “You’re just as much to blame as he is.”  
  
  
“I didn’t do anything.”  
  
  
“He told you, and you kept that from us.” Cisco said.  
  
  
“Like I said, it wasn’t my place to tell you.” West frowned. “Barry made a mistake that’s all. It’s not like you haven’t. “ _

_“Cisco, we all make mistakes to protect the people that we love. I mean, you told Captain Cold that Barry was The Flash in order to protect your brother.” Iris added._

_“Okay. Not my finest moment.” Cisco mumbled.  
  
  
“That’s the point.” West said. “If any of you were in Barry’s place, I’m sure you would’ve done the same thing.” _

_Iris nodded. “Exactly. It was one decision made in one moment. One very heart-wrenching moment. Look, guys, we're like a family here, okay? And sometimes families get mad at each other for screwing up. I know that all too well. But they also forgive. Because after awhile, it just seems silly when you stop and think about it.”_

_Caitlin sighed. “Guys, Iris is right. We all have secrets. We've all screwed up, but this is Barry we're talking about. The Barry whom we all know and love.”  
  
**Beep!Beep!Beep!**  
  
“Who apparently is in trouble.”  
  
____ _

_Barry jumped out of the way as a beam of energy bolted towards him. “And who are you?”_

_“I am Alchemy.” The figure said._

_“Okay, well, what do you want?” Barry held up his arms._

_“To help people achieve their true potential such as he has.” Alchemy pointed to the Rival._

_“And why are you doing this?”_

_“Because I'm preparing this world.”_

____  
  
_

_Barry sighed. “Alchemy is the one that gave Clariss back his speed.”_

_  
“He's kinda like a doctor, that way, don't you think?” Cisco asked. “Come on, don't pretend like "Doctor Alchemy" doesn't have a nice ring to it.”_

_  
“Okay, well, that explains why he didn't have any traces of dark matter in his cells. He didn't get his powers from the particle accelerator, he got them from Alchemy.” Caitlin spoke up._

_  
Cisco asked. “What was that?”  
  
  
“Doctor Alchemy.” Caitlin corrected herself.   _

_Iris laughed. “How could he do that?”  
  
_

_Barry shook his head.  “I don't know, but we need to figure it out. There's gonna be more. Alchemy - Doctor Alchemy - said that he is preparing this world.” He turned to West. “West you didn’t have him on your world?”  
  
  
West shook his head. “Never heard of him before.”  
  
  
“Great.” Barry groaned. _

_“What was it he said?” Wally asked. “That he was preparing the world?”_

_Barry shook his head. “Mmhm.”_

_“For what? Like, the second coming or something?”_

_Barry took a moment to respond. “I think that everyone that had powers in Flashpoint is gonna get them back.”_

_“Well, we already found four other husks, which means there's at least that many running around Central City right now.” Joe replied._

_“We need to find him before he changes more people's lives.” Caitlin said._

_“Speaking of changing lives, we all talked about it, Barry, and we don't want to know what our lives were like in Flashpoint.” Iris said._

_“You sure?” Barry asked._

_Cisco spoke up. “To quote the wise words of Harry, "What's the point, Allen?"_

_Joe stretched his arms. “ I gotta get to the precinct.” He started to leave._

_“Uh, stop by Jitters on the way?” Iris asked following behind._

_Joe nodded. “Yeah, it's on me.”_

_“Oh, good. Then I'm coming, too.” Wally grinned and followed them. He poked his head around the corner.  “West you want something?”_

_“No thanks.” West replied.  
  
  
“Suit yourself.” Wally chased after his father and sister. “Hey guys wait up!”  
  
  
“I'm uh,  I'm going to go for a run around the city. I'll see ya in a few.” West zipped out the room, sending a small gust of wind through the cortex. _

_Cisco waited until the speedster was gone.  “Okay he’s gone.I think I've made something that could help us send Wally home. There's just a couple of adjustments I gotta make but, I think it'll work.” He turned to go to his lab._

_“Yo, um.” Barry called out. “ I've just been thinking that it was pretty cool having someone out there with me last night. And, I don't know, maybe we could make that a thing every once in awhile.”_

_Cisco turned back around. “I-I got some things to work on before I start doing that.”  
_

_“Yeah…”  
  
_

_“Maybe someday. It'd be pretty bitchin'.” Cisco replied and left for his lab.  
  
_

_Caitlin smiled, swinging her legs back and forth from her spot on the computer bench.”Glad to see everything's starting to get back to the way it was.”  
  
_

_Barry smiled “Yeah. I mean mostly. You have nothing to worry about, Cait. I think out of everyone, actually, you're the only one that wasn't really affected when I messed with the timeline. I mean, unless you're secretly moonlighting as an ophthalmologist.” He laughed at his own joke._

_  
“A what?” She asked.  
  
_

_“Kidding, nothing. Just a Flashpoint joke. I’m going to see if Cisco has the thing set up yet.” He kissed her cheek. “See you in a moment.”  
  
  
Caitlin waited for Barry to leave, and slowly raised her hand when she couldn’t see him anymore. Ice started to crackle and form at her fingertips. _

______  
  
“Thanks guys for all coming back here, I know some of you may not want to.” Barry looked towards Cisco, who was avoiding making eye contact. Caitlin squeezed his hand as a way of reassurance. “Look, I know I messed things up alright, and I want to do whatever I can to fix that. But I know, there is still something left for me to fix. There’s still one more thing we haven’t done. One thing I promised to do.” Barry looked over to West, arms crossed, staring at the floor. “Hey Wall-man.” He called softly.  
  
“What?” The redhead looked up.  
  
“Time to send you home." **  
****  
__Flashback__  
********  
** **Earth 16** **  
** **Bludhaven** **  
** **Present Day** _

Barry snapped his eyes open, he yawned, realising he had fallen asleep and slid down his seat in the booth he was sitting. He quickly pulled himself up and rubbed his eyes. He was tired, he stank too. ‘ _Maybe once I find them I can take a bath somewhere._ ’ he thought. ‘ _Artemis is already here….I should wait for one of the others.’_ He sat further up in his seat and looked out of the window, letting out a small gasp as he recognised a dark haired girl that stood outside of the window. ‘ _Zatanna_ ’ He shifted in his seat and **_im_ ** patiently waited for her to enter the cafe. He heard her greeting the blonde girl, and waited for the right moment to reveal himself. He turned his head as he heard Artemis tell the other about the night he appeared before her. He frowned, he didn’t know what to say to her, that’s why he ran. Barry looked back down at his coffee, shifting nervously as he felt someone’s piercing gaze on the back of his head. ‘ _Wait for the right moment Barry’_ he thought to himself. ‘ _Wait for the right moment_ ’. Barry looked out of the window, and saw another figure he recognised from the pictures.  ‘ _Dick Grayson. He looks a little different but that’s still him’_ Barry heard him approach the two girls, and waited for them to finish talking.  
  
“ -using what you told me the other night, and borrowing a little tech and info from B-man-”  
  
“Stealing.” Artemis said.  
  
“ _Borrowing_ ” Dick said again. “Without him knowing, I have created two different devices, one that specifically tells me when there are Meta’s around, and the other is to detect speedsters.”  
  
“There’s only one device here.” Artemis said.

 _‘Now or never’_ Barry thought, and got to his feet, picking up his backpack as he did,

“Dammit!” Dick rifled in his bag. “Ugh, great. I think this is the Meta one.”  
A red light flashed, once, twice, three times. Stopped. The light flashed again. Dick had the device in his hand and had it pointed towards Zatanna. “See it works.”  
  
Zatanna shook her head. “I don’t have the Meta-gene, remember?”  
  
“Must be broken.” Artemis shrugged and finished her cup of coffee.  
  
Dick put down the device. “I was so sure it worked.” The device frantically flashed the red light again. “Hey look…” Dick looked up, feeling someone standing over at their table ; Barry looked down at him and at the device.  
  
“Cool toy.” Barry said, unsure of what to say.  
  
“Thanks…” Dick put it back into his bag. “Help you with something?”  
  
Barry suddenly felt nervous. “I know where to find your friend Wally.”

 


End file.
